


Deliverance

by ancarett



Category: 15th Century CE RPF
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-25
Updated: 2013-12-25
Packaged: 2018-01-06 00:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1100538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ancarett/pseuds/ancarett
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A father's lies, a husband's faithlessness and a woman's fight for justice. Juana's story in three letters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deliverance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [likeadeuce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/likeadeuce/gifts).



_News release: Curators at the British Library have discovered lost letters from Juana of Castile to her sister, Catherine of Aragon. Juana, better known as Juana the Mad, was the heiress to the Spanish throne of Ferdinand and Isabella and mother of the Emperor Charles V. Written in 1506, her three brief letters were slipped into the binding of Catherine's personal Book of Hours. It was only the eagle eye of a restoration expert who perceived the distortion of the mass of the letters, slipped under the ornate needlework cover, that allowed for their recovery. Scholars are preparing a translation of the letters, hoping to see evidence for or against Juana's reported madness which caused her father to govern in her name until his death in 1516. The letters and the restored text will be on display at the British Library beginning in May, 2014._

* * *

The Feast of St. Felix

Dear Sister,

I thank you again for your kind hospitality when Philip and I were shipwrecked in England. Your Henry was, as you had promised, handsome and chivalrous. But his father, all cold calculation, still gives me pause. He reminds me of our father who bitterly resents any dependence on a female. Now that Philip and I are back in Spain, I hope to end father's control, here in Castile. Mother's people vow that they will see me on the throne by midsummer! Philip is unhappy, though, because they show him less courtesy than he expects. I am so wearied of his ways!

When we secure our crown, I will forward your cause with the English king. That Henry has treated you shamelessly since your husband died. You are a princess and sister to a queen: you should not be dressed in worn gowns and shunned at the court. I will make that miser king bleed gold.

Be cautious with his son, dear Caterina. For all that he is handsome, amiable and full of love words, I warn you that any man may change. Consider his father and put not all of your faith in the prince who has given you nothing but words. I would that our mother had warned me so. Wed or widowed, God give us peace for no man will.

Write to me and let me know that all is well with you in that inhospitable land.

Your loving sister,

Juana

* * *

The Feast of St. Marcellina

Dear Caterina,

We have won! The procurators of Castile have recognized the justice of my claim, just five days past. Philip and I will now rule, as God intended, and raise our son, Charles, to succeed in our realms. Let Father seek to get a child upon that French doxy. I vow that he will not take Castile from me by blood or fire. Not after what he has done, spreading rumours that I am demon-touched or ill in the mind, all this to challenge my claim to mother's crown.

I worry that he has poisoned Philip against me. Sancha, who used to be our mother's lady-in-waiting, told me that father had all but brought Philip to his side, promising him the right to rule in my name while father held power from Aragon, too. I thank God and the saints for taking my part with righteousness and ending that devilish agreement. Philip is weary of the work it takes to rule a kingdom, to care for the people, to do as God wills, not just as his lust would. When men falter, heaven does not, remember that.

I long to hear from you. I have directed the ambassador to deliver this along with a purse that should provide for any immediate needs. Will you come to Castile and join me, sister? I wish that more than anything, now as we celebrate our triumph.

Juana Regina

* * *

The Feast Day of St. Adele, The Eve of the Birth of Our Lord, Christ Iesu

Caterina,

I write to you in hopes that you will heed my call, my cry, my plea. Dearest Caterina, please come to join me. I battle for my life and my crown against our father, who poisoned my husband in truth, as well as in his mind. Philip was no great king, but he was my spouse and his death one more judgment against our false father under God's all-seeing eye. I am a widow,now. Our last child will be born, soon, perhaps even tomorrow. If it is a boy, I will name him Iesu. If it is a daughter, she will be Caterina, after my dearest sister whom I long to see.

Why do I not see you? Why do I not hear from you? If I angered you with my words against your prince, I am only sorry for your part. Time has proved me right on our father's perfidious dealings and you are still a widow with no promise of marriage despite all of the fine words Henry showers upon you. Would you not join me here in Torquemada? With you by my side, I am certain that the people of Castile will no longer pay heed to father's lies, but will support their queen and their princess as is right and true.

Write to me, sister. Tell me that you come to join me here in Castile, to help me fight for my crown against our father. Write to me that you will end this living on the sufferance of that English king and his boy, who grant you not the honour you deserve. Write me that you come to meet you newest nephew or niece and to breathe in the free air of Castile, again, as you, a princess of the blood deserves by right.

Come to me, Caterina. I have no one I can trust here. Write to me. Pray for me as I pray for you. Pray for me. Pray for Castile. Pray for our deliverance.

Juana


End file.
